Apple confirms second best quarter in its history

Apple survived the traditionally slow post-Christmas quarter in style - returning its second best quarter in its 30-year history.

By
Jonny Evans
, | 19 Apr 06

Apple achieved the second highest quarterly sales in its corporate history, the company confirmed Wednesday night.

Apple’s 2006 second quarter (ended April 1, 2006) shows company revenue hit $4.36 billion for a net quarterly profit of $410 million, or $0.47 per diluted share. These results compare to revenue of $3.24 billion and a net profit of $290 million, or $0.34 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter.

Gross margin was 29.8 per cent, equivalent to the year-ago quarter.

The company confirmed that international sales accounted for 43 per cent of the quarter's revenue.

Apple shipped 1,112,000 Macintosh computers and 8,526,000 iPods during the quarter, representing 4 per cent growth in Macs and 61 per cent growth in iPods over the year-ago quarter.

"We've generated over $10 billion in revenue and almost $1 billion in earnings in the first half of fiscal 2006," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Our transition to Intel processors is going very well, and our music business just experienced another quarter of outstanding growth."

"We're very pleased to report the second highest quarterly sales in Apple's history, resulting in year-over-year revenue growth of 34 per cent and earnings growth of 41 per cent," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer.

Oppenheimer confirmed a conservative targets for the next quarter: "Looking ahead to the third quarter of fiscal 2006, we expect revenue of about $4.2 to $4.4 billion. We expect earnings per diluted share of about $0.39 to $0.43, including an estimated $0.04 per share expense impact from non-cash stock-based compensation, translating to non-GAAP EPS of about $0.43 to $0.47."